By Graham Barnstaple
December 4 2011

Aberdeen and Hearts both lost in the SPL yesterday heaping more pressure on these two troubled Scottish giants.

Aberdeenslumped to the bottom of the table thanks to a combination of their defeat at Kilmarnock andInvernesswinning at St. Mirren. Once again after the game Dons boss Craig Brown looking to convince everyone it is down to poor fortune and bad breaks they find themselves in this position.

He even stooped to “Only an Excuse” levels by emphasising the positive point thatAberdeenwon more corners thanKilmarnock. This seems to support his belief there is little between the teams in the SPL, but goes against the belief they were getting better having lost narrowly to the top three. They have now only taken 1 point from six from Dunfermline andKilmarnock.

This is now well and truly relegation form and something Brown needs to face up to and deal with in the January transfer window. Unless he admits his team is not very good then they will continue to turn in results like this and could face the drop into the SFL.

There is also no doubt Stewart Milne won’t want to be changing manager again, but he will need to see the form addressed or their move to a new stadium could be a waste of time.

InEdinburgh, Hearts lost at home to St. Johnstone to remain fifth in the SPL eight points behind third placed Motherwell. This comes at a time when they are still struggling to pay their top players again.

It is also at a time when owner Vladimir Romanov is looking for a new owner, this is looking less and less likely to happen with each poor performance that is put in.

There is also the belief they will be looking to off load the high earners in the January window. This could explain why three youngsters were sent to Raith Rovers on loan to get first team experience ahead of their return to Tynecastle.

It is a bit worrying to see these two relative giants of the Scottish game struggling, but it could see shift in power to smaller areas and teams such as Motherwell, St. Johnstone,Kilmarnockand St. Mirren.